Selig said he hopes the new change to the playoff system will be in place for this season.
2 additional wild card teams, one in each league (4 total wild cards). Then have the 2 wild card from each league play each other in a one game deathmatch to determine the Division Series.
Personally I hate the wild card with a passion, but this isn't too bad of a change. It definitely puts some major emphasis back on winning the division, which is the key to me.
Why should there be emphasis on winning the division? There should be emphasis on having the best teams in the playoffs. What's wrong with the good old fashioned 1 division per league? Instead, they go with all this convoluted wild card and one-game playoff crap.
Skin Blues wrote:Why should there be emphasis on winning the division? There should be emphasis on having the best teams in the playoffs. What's wrong with the good old fashioned 1 division per league? Instead, they go with all this convoluted wild card and one-game playoff crap.
One division per league with the team winning the division going to the World Series (no league playoffs)? I don't think it is possible to put any more emphasis on winning the division than that. Unless you are suggesting that you have one division with wild cards.
Skin Blues wrote:Why should there be emphasis on winning the division? There should be emphasis on having the best teams in the playoffs. What's wrong with the good old fashioned 1 division per league? Instead, they go with all this convoluted wild card and one-game playoff crap.
One division per league with the team winning the division going to the World Series (no league playoffs)? I don't think it is possible to put any more emphasis on winning the division than that. Unless you are suggesting that you have one division with wild cards.
That's what I'd like to see, but it will never happen. The playoff format makes too much money for everyone involved.
It's pretty unfortunate to see them going to the NCAA tournament format (single elimination games) to decide an entire team's season, but hey, maybe the Jays can luck into that game and a victory. That would be nice.
mweir145 wrote:It's pretty unfortunate to see them going to the NCAA tournament format (single elimination games) to decide an entire team's season, but hey, maybe the Jays can luck into that game and a victory. That would be nice.
I'm not a big fan of expanding the playoffs, that was part of what made baseball different than the other major sports that let half the league into the playoffs. In my way of thinking, the one game playoff wouldn't be deciding the team's season, it is giving them a chance they really didn't earn anyways. If a team wants to avoid risking the season on a single game outcome, then they need to win the division. No sympathy from me that their season hinges on one game.
I have a couple concerns about the changes though, one is that the Yankees / Red Sox will get the Wild Card then start complaining about it being a single game and then the MLB will expand to best of 3 or 5. The other is that if you start having ties for the Wild Card you would end up with a one game playoff to see who gets into the one game playoff. At that point it is moving too much towards March Madness.
Skin Blues wrote:Why should there be emphasis on winning the division? There should be emphasis on having the best teams in the playoffs. What's wrong with the good old fashioned 1 division per league? Instead, they go with all this convoluted wild card and one-game playoff crap.
One division per league with the team winning the division going to the World Series (no league playoffs)? I don't think it is possible to put any more emphasis on winning the division than that. Unless you are suggesting that you have one division with wild cards.
No, I mean one division per league with the top 4 teams making the playoffs from each division. Instead of 6 divisions and 6 division winners and four wildcards that play each other for the 7th and 8th playoff spots.
I get that you don't like playoffs, but they're not going away. Why not have the best teams make it instead of the convoluted mess that they've made? How much money do they really make from a few extra Red Sox vs Yankees games, anyway? Travel costs would probably be a much bigger hindrance I guess.
I like the wild card teams being put at a disadvantage instead of having the same chance as everybody else.
And imo the reason that this is being done is not to make the playoffs better but instead make September better. Imo it's been pretty clear that teams don't care much about winning the division once they have the wild card locked up.
Skin Blues wrote:No, I mean one division per league with the top 4 teams making the playoffs from each division. Instead of 6 divisions and 6 division winners and four wildcards that play each other for the 7th and 8th playoff spots.
Right, so you want fewer division winners and more wild cards. It is just a difference of opinion. If the MLB is absolutely stuck on the 3 playoff rounds then I would rather see 8 divisions and no wild cards.
I get that you don't like playoffs, but they're not going away.
I'm not sure where you got that from. I love the playoffs, I just don't want to see them expanded to the point that the regular season doesn't have as much meaning (like the NHL and NBA do). The current proposal definitely isn't the perfect solution to me, but it beats the current design of giving a second place team the same treatment that you give a team that came in first.
Why not have the best teams make it instead of the convoluted mess that they've made?
Unless you have 1 division for the entire MLB and just have the top 8 play each other in the playoff, then you are stuck with arbitrary lines no matter what. I get that it is frustrating to go into a season knowing your team has no realistic shot at finishing even 2nd, but that is the product of a broken revenue system, not a broken playoff or divisional system.
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by Tavish » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:05 pm 
